CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 5

"Welcome back, guys. I just wanted to remind you that this year will determine the rest of your life. Which university you'll be heading to, whether you'll be heading to university at all," she told the class with a playful smile on her face. 

The class groaned collectively. 

She laughed. "I know, I know. It'll be a tough year but I have every faith that every single one of you will pass with flying colours. Now, I'm just going to take the register and hand out your timetables." 

The trio sat giggling and whispering jokes to each other as Mrs Bellerose came around with the timetables. They had picked different subjects for their final two years at school, so it was rare that they would have classes together. 

Amber shared Art with Zora, English with Saf, and Saf and Zora had Maths together but they didn't have any classes with all of them together. It wasn't much of a problem as they saw each other every morning anyway and spent lunch together. 

Amber saw that she had Art first thing in the morning and couldn't help but feel slightly excited. With everything that had been happening with Alex, Matthew and her father that week, she couldn't find the time to paint, so she was looking forward to devoting an hour solely discussing paintings.

The three of them part ways, agreeing to meet each other in the cafeteria at their usual table behind the pillar. 

Zora and Amber walked to Art, chatting about the summer. 

"How's Matty doing?" Zora asked Amber. "I talked to him after he got back from Madrid but it's been a while." 

Amber sighed at the mention of his name. She knew Matty wouldn't mind her telling Zora what happened since they were all close friends anyway. 

Zora listened attentively as Amber relayed the details of Matty and Lindsey's abrupt break up. Zora's mouth fell open when Amber got to the part about Matty telling her to leave. 

"He kicked her out? Wow, Matty would never do anything like that," Zora commented, glancing anxiously at Amber. 

"Lindsey's been driving him crazy. With her parents' divorce and everything, she's paranoid that Matty's going to leave her and so she's been possessive," Amber explained. "I said I was going to go see him at the gallery after school tonight. Do you want to come?" 

Zora hesitated for a moment before nodding. "He could do with some cheering up. We should get Saf to come." 

They walked in silence before Zora changed the subject to a more lighter topic. 

"What do you think the new Art teacher's going to be like?" 

Amber's heart sank. Their last teacher had been a patient, softly spoken man who decided that last summer would be the time to retire. He'd been incredibly impressed with Amber's art and continued to push her to try things out of her comfort zone. He made terrible jokes which had the whole class in tears by the end of his lesson. Amber knew she would miss him. 

"I have no idea. I just hope he knows what he's talking about." 

They entered the half-filled classroom to find the teacher was nowhere to be found. They took their seats at the table at the front of the class.

 As the teacher was slightly late to the class, Amber decided to follow some of the other students as she took out her phone. The little LED light was still flashing blue as she was yet to answer Alex's text from this morning. 

I'm okay. Lots happened last night. I'm sorry I ruined our last night but maybe I can see you again tonight before we both get really busy?

She clicked send but as they were downstairs in classrooms in the basement of the school, there was no signal on her phone.

"What are you doing?" Zora asked her curiously as Amber held her phone up to find at least one bar of signal. 

The classroom door was suddenly flung open and she dove under her desk to place her phone in her bag. There was no way she would get a detention today: her father was already in a foul mood with everything that had happened with Ann.

Amber fumbled clumsily with the clasps on her bag, trying to safely shove her phone into on of the pockets but it was difficult to do it blindly without making a noise.

There was a loud 'ping' noise from the front of the classroom which came from someone's phone but no one seemed to respond as the class was still settling down. Amber noticed that some on the students were still walking to their seats to she took the chance to place her phone in her bag properly. Except her phone made a loud 'ping' noise to indicate she had a message. She snapped her head up anxiously to find the new teacher, bracing herself for a stern comment about the school's strict no-phone policy but nothing could have braced her for what he saw next.

Alex. Her mind was racing. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears. Alex was standing at the front of the classroom, phone in hand but he was holding it loosely. His eyes crystal blue eyes were fixated on her and his face was pale against his inky black stubble. It felt like he was staring at her forever but Amber frantically broke her gaze and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed their exchange. The other students were too busy getting their sketch books out of their bags to have noticed. Some were still chatting excitedly to others about their holiday. Zora seemed to be the only one to have noticed but she was distracted by another student asking her a question. 

Maybe he was just the assistant to the teacher? Maybe he was training to become one? Amber's mind raced through every detail she knew about the man she had met two weeks ago and had spent several days getting to know since. What was he doing he here? Surely her wasn't her - 

"Good morning class, my name is Mr Knightly and I'm going to be your teacher this year." 

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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the big reveal. I understand that a lot of you aren't from the UK like me (and Amber!) so I'm probably going to need to explain the school system. In the UK, when we get to the age 16/17, we finish what is called secondary school (similar to high school - we start from the age of 11 or 12 and then finish at 16 years old) and then it becomes optional whether you want to continue for the next 2 years at what we call sixth form to do exams that prepare you for uni, or drop out and get a job. Amber, Saf and Zora opted to stay in school and finish their 2 years to sit their A-level exams (which determine which university they get into) - they're currently in their second year and will be heading to university next year (well, maybe... maybe not... spoilers!!). Matty dropped out of school and is now working at the local art gallery. 

I hope that clears things up! Thanks for reading! 

Fariha x